Test Drive Meme #9

[hadrielmods]

Welcome to Hadriel's test drive, and thank you again for your interest in the game! As always, our reserves page is here, and our applications page is here! Reserves open May 24th, and apps are open June 1st.

Two quick points here as well:

1. Any thread made in Hadriel's test drive will be accepted as the sole Action Log sample in the application.
2. All threads made in the test drive can be considered game canon, either through handwaving or through a shared mental experience while coming through the Door!

Test drives will be broken up into specific god mini-events, during which your characters can see how well they fare under the watchful eye of one of the gods. Choose wisely or just simply pick 'em all, and have fun!

F E A R

SCENARIO ONE:
I'VE SEEN ENOUGH HENTAI TO KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING
[The Door brings in all that is chaotic and evil in the world. This may include you, may include the person next to you... and may include the monster behind you.

Watch out as you explore the streets of Hadriel, because you're not alone, and there's always something lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to swarm around you and chow down. This time, the Door has brought in a group of malboro, from the Final Fantasy video game series.

These plant-like monsters are essentially comprised of long, tentacle-esque stalks- sometimes with eyes on the ends- and large, gaping mouths. Their breath can be poisonous and literally make you sick to your stomach, and- just your luck- they're carnivorous. Happy hunting!]


C O M B I N A T I O N

SCENARIO TWO: DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME
[You're so tired- at least you've got a reasonably safe place to rest your head at while you recuperate, right? After all, nothing can go wrong when you're asleep.

Aaand that's where you're mistaken. For this event, all characters who fall asleep will either be Hosts or Visitors in their, or someone else's dreams. All dreams are inflicted by one of the four gods (Hope, Delight, Rage, or Fear), and will have their presence influencing the events within your dreams in order to harvest their desired emotion from you.

The sky is essentially the limit, so long as your dreams correspond with one of the four gods. Happy sleeping!

This is a mini version of our Dreamwalker event this month!]


D E L I G H T

SCENARIO THREE: JUST SAY NO
[On your kitchen table the next morning is a blue pill. Just the one pill, along with a glass of what seems to be water. There's a note in elegant script next to the pill that merely says 'TAKE ME'.

If taken, the pill can have a variety of effects. You can hallucinate, you can get uncontrollable giggles, you can feel drunk, you can feel like colors all have textures and shapes and the world is looking at you through a kaleidoscope! The drug can have whatever effect the player desires, as long as it's pleasurable or fun.

So: do you take it? Can you hear someone who already took the drug, stumbling down the street? You, uh, might want to help them, and do be careful. There's no telling what kinds of monsters are still out there.]

Comments

[solvethepuzzle]

It is unshakable fact, in Near's mind. He's already observed it for years by this point. In any and all things measured as important at the House, Mello is the only one who could even get close to him. There is no other option for the second of the two best.

"Thank you." He sets the robots aside for now. They will be important later, once he's finished building. And build he does, brick by brick, with quick precision. A long row, then building on top of that row to stabilize the blocks.

"I know." That is treated as a fact, too. It's how he's been raised all this time. There is no malice, no smugness in the words. This is just the way things are. "But Mello-bot is very good. He plays." One finger briefly points to the box he'd gotten the robots from. "The others don't."

[torrefied]

Mello murmurs a wordless acknowledgment to Near's thanks, watching with keen interest at what he's building, wondering what shape the blocks will take by the time he's finished with them. He's resigned at this point to the fact that he's not going to win - not so much given up as redirected his energies - and that's present in the back of his mind as he watched Near build and hears what he says about the nature of first place.

What surprises Mello, though, is what he says next. Mello-bot is very good. He plays. The others don't. This is significant - Near says and does nothing without purpose, just like Mello himself. Such is the way they've been trained, and Mello may be many years removed from the House, but he'll never entirely leave its teachings behind.

"Is that why Mello is second best?" Strange, to speak of himself in the third person; also strange to speak of himself in such definitive terms, though it's not the strangest thing he's ever done. The old world's runner-up, he'd called himself, in the document he left behind. But written words have a different dynamic than those that are spoken.

[solvethepuzzle]

It all takes place much faster than it should. The scene ripples and shifts, giving way from the beginnings of the project to the end result; Near standing at his full, if pathetic, height and placing a final brick on a wall at his shoulder level.

But that isn't the only wall. Multiple ones sprawl over the wide expanse of the toy room, full of sharp angles and tight turns, ridiculously intricate and complex. A maze constructed of simple, brightly-coloured blocks. Far too many blocks to have been able to fit into that box, but details like that aren't important to dreams.

"It's why he's fun." Still not looking directly at Mello, because that's simply how things work, he scoops the robots back up and offers the Mello-bot to him. Near normally doesn't share his toys, but whatever. "First one through the maze wins."

[torrefied]

No, the strangeness of the dream doesn't stick out as such. Mello blinks at the appearance of the maze, but it doesn't seem wrong that it went up so quickly and effortlessly - this is Near, after all. He takes the robot designated as a proxy for himself and stares at it in his gloved hand for a moment. Toys weren't a large part of his own childhood, and what he did have was abandoned long before he was taken in at the House. It's a strange feeling, circling back around to something so mundane, something most people take for granted.

"Fun isn't as important as effective," Mello says, and turns his attention to studying the maze.

[solvethepuzzle]

"Being effective is part of the fun. He never wins, but he gets close sometimes." He's still smiling, but these statements are delivered with just a bit of excessive patience. This is like repeating himself -- he'd already said that Mello is good, honestly -- but for whatever reason, this isn't as annoying as it might usually have been. Near still feels very content in this moment; he's getting to talk about his favourite person, after all.

"A countdown from five, and then we start."

[torrefied]

He never wins. That should hurt more than it does, but in the dream, Mello's emotional responses are tempered, and he's more easily able to acknowledge the plain fact that Near isn't wrong. He makes no argument, and the expected flicker of anger doesn't rise up from inside of him. This too is a fact; Mello is a loser, born to never reach past second place.

"But isn't winning important?" he asks, then answers his own question, quickly adding: "It's the most important thing."

[solvethepuzzle]

"Winning isn't satisfying if everybody else is too scared to play or the players you do have aren't good. It would be boring." All calm authority here. He's the expert on winning; he should know this. "I like it much better when it's not boring. Mello is the only one who's exciting."

Even in a dream, he doesn't say things outright, but certain things are obvious in implication. Mello is much more brave, capable, and interesting than all the others, is what this says.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One." And he doesn't say 'go', because the last number is the cue. And he starts through the maze at a sedate pace, holding what has been unofficially dubbed the Near-bot out in front of him like it's flying.

[torrefied]

Mello is, for the most part, incredibly self-aware. He knows exactly who he is and how he presents himself to others; he knows how they see him, and he knows how to use that to his advantage. Exciting isn't a descriptor he typically considers as belonging to him, and hearing it from Near, of all people - even a child version of him - is so surprising he has no immediate response, stunned so thoroughly by the revelation that his mouth hangs open for a long moment as he inspects this important fragment he's been given.

He takes risks; that's a fundamental part of who he is. He calculates, and he gambles, and sometimes it pays off, and sometimes it doesn't. But that isn't the sort of thing Mello has ever believed Near values - his own methods lean more on caution and less on action than Mello's. Hearing himself described as exciting is a novel thing in itself, but even more so by virtue of the fact that it comes from Near.

It's such a sharp insight for Mello, in fact, that he's a second too slow to start the maze, following behind Near with an almost dumbfounded expression on his face.

[solvethepuzzle]

Oh, he definitely favours his own methods by far. They work. That's why he's always in first place. But Mello's way of doing things keeps him in the game somehow, even if it can be really dumb sometimes. It makes him interesting and challenging to play against.

As he's said: Mello is fun. Even somebody like Near appreciates fun.

He doesn't notice the expression, of course, focused as he is on the maze. He does notice the abrupt lack of a rejoinder or a question, but he doesn't feel like dwelling upon it. They're busy with a game now. "You're not going to keep following me, are you? You will lose for sure that way."

This is still a contest, after all. Who says there is only one path through the maze? And obviously if one person just walks behind the other, that person will lose. That's just common sense.

[torrefied]

Near's voice pulls Mello from his fog of self-analysis. "No," he says, frowning, and takes a sharp turn to the right when the maze offers a split. There is a distant thought in his mind that since Near built the maze, he must know the way to solve it, but it's quickly pushed aside once Mello begins to actually focus on the contest. He doesn't follow Near - he makes his own way.

"I'm not going to lose."

[solvethepuzzle]

He knows how to solve it. Of course. But there is more than one path that leads to the end.

He nods to himself when they split. Yes, good. This is an actual game now. There is no hurry in his steps; his pace is calm and steady, winding through various convoluted turns that make it difficult to gauge progress. At any particular point, it will be difficult to tell which of them is further along.

Well. Near can sort of tell, when he glances out of the corner of his eye briefly. And his smile broadens a little before he makes another sharp turn. There. Back ahead again, just a bit. A close game so far. This is nice.

[torrefied]

It's a very close game, and it seems for just a moment as if Mello is ahead - then he hits a dead end. Frowning, he turns around and retraces his steps, taking the turn toward the left in the most immediate intersection. He glances up, checking for where Near is, whether he's ahead now and if so, by how much.

[solvethepuzzle]

The pace of Near's progress never changes, his little feet moving him along confidently, unerringly. He makes a quiet whooshing noise while swooping the toy robot through the air. Until he feels the eyes on him, anyway.

"You're falling behind. You'd better figure out the way soon or you will lose." Deadpan voice, but there is an almost beatific smile on his face.

The backtracking had been a good idea, though. Mello has gotten himself back on the way to a possible solution.

[torrefied]

Mello knows, distantly, that he should be angry about the being so openly goaded. He isn't, though - instead, he's strangely calm about it, calculating his next move, taking long strides through the maze as it twists and turns and he works to not only catch up but pull ahead. He's all but forgotten the robot in his hand.

[solvethepuzzle]

Near doesn't think of it as goading so much as just stating facts. But when one is always winning, factual statements come off that way whether it's intended or not. That can be fun sometimes, though.

There are a few turns left for him, but as far as straight distances are concerned, Near is only about fifteen feet from the end now. Better hurry, Mello. Time is running out.

[torrefied]

And here is where the dream turns strange, though in the true fashion of dream logic, it doesn't seem strange in the moment. Mello suddenly finds his feet too heavy to lift, his legs slow, each step increasingly more difficult, like attempting to run through wait-deep water.

He's going to lose. He worked so hard, and in the end, he's still going to lose anyway.

(Just like he always does.)

[solvethepuzzle]

Well, Near certainly isn't going to lose in what is clearly a happy dream for him, now is he? That would be silly.

His own steps are unimpeded, and he exits the maze after another series of turns. For most children, something like this would result in a crow of triumph or some other elated gesture. But Near is still Near, and his display is markedly more subdued, but clear all the same: that unsettling, satisfied smile he gets whenever he knows that he's right.

"I win." His tone isn't quite bland, but it's calm. "You're still coming, right?"

It would be disappointing otherwise.

[torrefied]

Mello should be angry. Losing always stings, and doubly so when it's to Near. He should be angry, should be feeling that familiar flicker of heat race up his spine, but he doesn't. He feels hollow, like a deflated balloon. Resigned to the fact that he is coming in second yet again, because it's the truth, and there's no sense denying what's clearly transpired. He lost. (He always does.)

"You win," he says, crossing the threshold of the maze's exit, then adds: "This time."

[solvethepuzzle]

At the addendum, his smile broadens.

"There will be more games, then?" That's what the statement implies, after all. There's actual happiness in Near's tone now, just a bit of it. Finding someone who will play at all is a rare enough thing, but finding someone who doesn't just quit after losing is rarer still.

[torrefied]

Something about where they've ended up is not only familiar, but comforting in that familiarity. Mello takes a long look at the toy robot in his hand - Mello-bot, Near had named it - and the faint curve of a smile traces over his mouth, replacing the empty feeling brought on by the realization of having lost.

"Aren't there always?" The implication in his tone is one of of course. Mello gently sets the robot on the floor at the maze's exit and turns toward the door, though not before giving Near one last glance over his shoulder as he leaves.